Monday, September 21, 2009

9/21/09

I've fallen into a very rhythmic way of life lately. I've been trying to cut the excesses from life to find balance, and I've lived in excesses for a very long time. There is a definite rhythm to life, a sort of unwavering river of energy, that exists even in this dark corner of New Jersey. Lately all I do is read, play music, draw, and drink coffee. I've been reading about Taoism lately, pardon the inaccuracy of the Western terminology. The thing that fascinates me most is the idea of wu wei, or, inaction. Inaction has negative connotations to most churchgoing Christians who would label it as naught but idleness, but in reality it is not sloth, but rather action through inaction.

The idea of action through inaction, despite its simplicity, is such a fundamental requirement for happiness in my opinion. The idea is to approach a task with ease rather than with anguish and emotionalism. I discovered a good practical explanation of this when I was chopping wood this weekend. A seemingly meaningless and arduous task, I find it much easier, and can even find solace in doing it, when I approach it with ease.

In the past I've chopped wood by channeling all of my aggression and frustration into every swing of the maul. This method, although seemingly powerful, left me exhausted and very void filling. This weekend when it was time to split wood, I concentrated more on feeling the maul, and letting it easily swing down in a flowing method. Much to my astonishment I split logs more efficiently and with much less exhaustion then I previously had. I felt that I was channeling the unwavering river of the Tao into every swing.

I hope to use this page as not just mindless ramblings but to post art, music, literature, I enjoy also. I saw of Montreal in the city on Friday, great experience. The venue, Terminal 5 was really nice, security was a little tight for my liking, but nonetheless a good place. Musically the band was incredibly tight, even with the integration of live electronics the transitions were really smooth. Granted I'm not sure if they play the same set every night, it was pleasurable. The thing that was really impressive was the visual aspect of the performance. Symbolic characters/imagery littered the stage during there set, from presumably Catholic priests wearing pig masks to the dysfunctional American families portrayed, I really got a fucking kick out of what went on while they played. It was interesting, but not overly distracting, which is a hard balance to find in a glam rock band.

1 comment:

One way I like to describe wu wei is in the sports nomenclature of "being in the zone". It's when a person performs to their utmost without consciously thinking about the moves. It's another way of saying they effortlessly "go with the flow".